Rudolph Edward Schirmer ’41

Rudy died Nov. 19, 2000. A member of Terrace Club, he left Princeton at the end of his sophomore year to attend the Curtis Institute of Music, in Philadelphia, and studied composition under Rosario Scalero.

During WWII he was in military intelligence (Field Interrogation Unit). His business career was with the family business, G. Schirmer, Inc. He retired as chair of the board.

He continued his love of music, composing numerous works including "Hymn to the Americas" for solo voice, chorus and orchestra performed by the Washington Symphony and the Pan American Music Festival in 1968.

A talented poet and writer, he was published in various journals, but his outstanding poem, Stanzas in the Valley of the Fallen, was presented officially to the Spanish government in 1967 and is now engraved on a bronze plaque at the Patrimonio Nacional in the royal palace in Madrid.

Also the author of several books, he had a full and distinguished career.

Rudy is survived by his wife, Raffaela Mormino Schirmer, and a daughter, Liane S. James, as well as one grandchild.

The Class of 1941